In a violent and shocking showdown, Phelan forced Carver to shoot fellow captive Vinny Ashford (Ian Kelsey) in a deserted mill before Phelan turned the gun on Carver, as viewers compared the soap to a horror film.

Another viewer tweeted: “3 months and he just kills him. Just wasted 3 months of my life,” as another wrote: “Such a massive build up for weeks on end, for it to end like that! Pfft I’m not impressed.”

Such a massive build up for weeks on end, for it to end like that! Pfft I’m not impressed @itvcorrie#Corrie

In the first instalment of the two-episode showdown, Phelan was confronted by daughter Nicola Rubenstein (Nicola Thorp) after she learned he had raped her mother.

McIntyre said Phelan has now crossed the rubicon by killing someone, saying: “Phelan has been promising the world to Andy but he is two, three steps ahead. The Vinny problem has evaporated and it was in that moment that Phelan realised how easy it is to solve a problem.

“Andy said, “I know you Pat, you’re not a murderer” but Phelan said, “you don’t know me” and he speaks for all of us. No, we don’t know you!”

He added that now he has become a killer, it is the beginning of the end for his character, describing it as “the pebble that starts the avalanche”.

Asked if the soap Gods will get justice, he said: “It must be so and we have just woken them up out of their slumber – ‘hey, this needs sorting out’.

“But while we run up to that, whenever that is, Pat Phelan is now a very dangerous person. Now he’s crossed the rubicon whereas before he would go to great lengths, for example the cellar, complicating things.

“The journey towards his comeuppance will be very lively I’m sure, because now he has a direct root to solving problems.”